Interview with Ignacio D. Flores Jr., 1983

INTERVI EW WITH:
DATE:
PLACE:
INTERVIEWER:
I. D. FLORES, JR. (IGNACIO)
May 12, 1983
Fl ores' Home; Floresville, Texas
Esther MacMillan
M: What I'd like to do is start with you first . . . where you were born
and when1- And then move backward into your background. Were you born
here in Fl oresville?
F: No, I was really born in San Antonio . We were living here but
because of medi ca l compl i cat ions I had to be born in San Antonio .
M: What year? Do you mind telling me?
F: 1918.
M: You're just a young man! But your home was here in Floresvi ll e?
F: Yes.
M: Did you say you lived on a ranch?
F: No, we've lived r i ght here in town. In fact, just a half bl ock down
the street is whe re I grew up.
M: One of the things I was interested in . . . t he Flores fam ily had such an
impact on this part of the country . . . they named all kinds of places for
them . When I was doing some research work over on San Pedro Creek in
San Antonio where it comes through and meets the r i ver, there's a street
called "Flores ." In some of the reading it said the name came from the
fa ct that all those pieces of property ran irri gation ditches into t he
San Pedro Creek. And t hat there were lots of flowers . But in some of
your documents I've read today, it says t he Flores family had t heir resi­dence
on that street.
F: If you notice, t hat was in that article there of the "San Antonio
Express" of June 7, 1914 . . .
FLORES 2.
M: It says, "They've always had fams and ranches be low here on the San
Antonio River; the town of Floresville named for them and the street in
San Antonio, on which the family had its residence, was also named "Flores."
~'1: Flores Street. And it 's still Flores Street.
F: We're familiar today with Fl ores Street as mostly South Flores be-cause
it extends so far . And actually, it extended all the way to the
county line. Our ranch right now, where our place is, which is ten miles
northwest of Floresvi lle . . . you drive stra ight north on F~1 1303, on that
Farm to Market Road and up to just a few years ago, the sign was there
at the co unty line that said, South Flores Street . And if you stayed on
that street you went right on in to San Antonio .
Now, of course, it 's Fam to Market Road 1303, then you're on 1604,
then you're on IH 37 and all that sort of thing . But originally if you
stayed on the old road it would go in back of San Fernando Cathedral there
on South Flores Street .
I meant to ask my mother; I th ink the house actually was up there
close to San Pedro Springs.
~1: 'Way up thel'e?
F: I think so .
M: It goes right behind the Park ~an Pedrcil--Flores Street.
F: My mother, in earlier conversations with her, remembers that they
used to have some very fine cultivated land there . It was a small area;
just like Floresville . .. even if you live here and somebody lives cl ear
across town ... today t hat 's just a matter of a few blocks. So I would
think they lived a close distance from each other .
M: Get me 'way back to the beginning of the Floreses in Texas . They're
Cana ry Is 1 anders, is that ri ght?
FLORES
F: Yes . The early founders who came to San Antonio .
M: Did they come with the first group?
3.
F: As far as I can tell . I haven't really researched it that much but
everybody tells me that they were among the first Canary Islanders . Yes .
M: Something I've read mentions the Flores; Canary Is landers . Are you
third or second generation here?
F: Let's see .. , I 'd be the third . My grandfather , father and me . . . that's
three . His father, too .. . that would be four ,
M: Where did he come from?
F: He's bound to have been born here . In the early 17 .. .
f1: Your great-grandfather?
F: Well, you see my grandfather was bo rn in 1846 .
f1: So your great-grandfather in the late 1700s . Here?
F: Yes .
M: Did they come from Spain or the Canary Islands?
F: The Canary Islands . If you notice in that article, both families
are early Canary Island families .
M: And they inter-marri ed, I notice .
F: Yes, in many instan ces ... Carvajals, Rodriguez and Leals . ..
M: Yndo is an interesting name ,
F: Yes, I have never seen it except in our family .
M: In that clipping you have down in the drug store--the marriage--is
that of your father?
F: Yes.
M: That was your father getting married . That was. 1914 . He was
marrying an Yndo .. . an odd name . That' s Canary Island, too, I guess.
FLORES 4.
F: Yes . ~ly grandfather was a son of an early army officer ... Spanish
officer . Sent here with the early Canary Islanders .
M: They sent the army to protect them from the Indians , particularly.
F: I would think so . Because we have a mission out here - -Las Cabras
Mission--was dedicated--we had a field mass here last year .
t-1: That's a famous ranch.
F: They're digging that out .. . excavating and cleaning up around there .
The Sta te of Texas actually has purchased all of that land . It' s a state
park.
M: I re cently acqui red an i ntervi.ew wi th Fa ther Mari on Habi g . He's a
Fran cis can who has written two definitive books on the missions . One
called "San Antonio 's San Jos~ Mi ss ion" and the other, I think , "San
Antonio 's Chain of Missions ." He talks about the ranch. Las Cabras was
the ranch connected with San Josemission .
F: It was a satellite Church, you might say . An outpost, really .
t~: In doing research on San Jose you find that in the morning the Indians
who were inside the compo und were given their duties for the day , And
those who worked in the fields, down on the ranch, were accompanied by
mounted so ldiers to protect them from Indian raids . So Las Cabras is a
very historic pie ce of land .
Your great-grandfather, then, 18th century Canary Islander, was a
Spani sh offi ce r.
F: That's on my mother's side. I can't tell you any more on my father's
side any more than my grandfather.
M: He was in the military so we don't need to know what his business was;
but what about your grandfather? l.Jhat business did he engage in?
FLORES
F: l'ly grandfather was just mostly ranch ing, farming out here.
M: He was a rancher. Was he successful?
F: I wouldn't say so .
M: They were hard times .
5.
F: They were hard times. Everybody worked hard. There were eleven
children . When my Dad came into Floresville to look for a job, he started
in an existing drugsto~e that was here then . He was sixteen years old and
some months at that time. He decided that he wanted to become a pharmacist .
M: Your father?
F: Yes . At sixteen years old . He liked it and that's what he wanted.
And to do that, he had to go to San Antonio . So he moved to San Antonio ...
and I've got a little book there . .. when he worked, he worked for $5 .00 a
month; then increased to $7 .00 a month. Then he moved to San Antonio and
he got $25.00 a month there. He' s got entries there . And up to $35 .00 .
And right there where t he City Hall is, to the right, as you wa lk out of
City Hall, right on the corner, South Fl ores, is there--there was a big
drugs tore there- -George Keene Drugs tore in those days . It \vas a very fi ne
store .
I remember the store, as a young kid , that used to be there . My Dad
used to go in there, made friends with the owner and the pharmacist there
and used to go there--you studied as an apprentice . Then when he t hought
he knew enough to take the exam, he would take the exams and he would be
approved or disapproved . St udy some more .
M: And he did it!
F: Yes. When he was 21 years old, he came back home to set up his drug ·
busines s.
FLORES 6.
M: He must have been a go-getter.
F: Looking at the record: You see, he wrote here in Spanish at that
time and he started working for $5 .00 a month--16 years and 5 months .
Two months at $5 .00 and he got raised to $7 .00 and in 1903 he want up to
$10.00 a month - -then $12 .00 . And he worked there . Then he moved to San
Antonio and he began to work for F. A. Chapa at San Antonio on Tuesday,
March 8, 1904 .
I ' ve got a letter here from Mr . Chapa himself ... some old items I
found .. . here it is: "F . A. Chapa, Pharmacist , San Antonio. ~1arch 4, 1904.
Dear sir, Yours of February 27 duly received. I am sorry you are not a
graduated or registered pharmacist so I could place you in my store as
my head druggist. But, nevertheless, I could uS.e you as night clerk as
my drug store is open all night . I think if you are ambitious and willing
to work, in a year or so you can accomplish a great deal in my house. If
you are willing to work and to learn, I will assure you that I will take
special care in your training . I have inquired about your character and
I have received very good reports . If you come up, I may take the matter
up with you . Let me hear from you. Truly yours, F. A. Chapa ."
M: Is that the father of the present Chapa?
F: Frank Chapa is the old man right now . He was a Lt. Colonel, retired,
from the army. He's not a pharmacist .
M: This Frank Chapa is his father?
F: Yes . His father .
M: And that was 1904. Di d your father go, then, to work for Hr . Chapa?
F: Yes . In this book ... he 's got in here; "I began to work for F. A.
Chapa in San Antonio, Tuesday, ~1arch 8, 1904. "
FLORES 7.
M: What did he get paid?
F: $25 .00 . Then later on, he began to work for the San Antonio Drug
Company in 1904 , in November .
M: He didn ' t stay with Chapa very long .
F: No . $35 .00 and then $45.00 . "I registered when I was 20 years and
three months . " Then he got his certificate in three years and seven months .
M: To be a pharmacist . He did! From apprenticing with all these people .
F: He says, "I opened my drugs tore September 9, 1906, at the depot. And
then in 1908, January 1, we bought the ~1 . M. Hughes." That 's this store
right here .
M: Where you are now? ~1r. Carvajal told me about a store down by the
depot.
F: That's what he's talking about here .
M: Gilbert told me your father started a store by the depot for furni­ture
and implements, etc . It wasn ' t just a drugstore?
F: It was a regular mercantile store . That was his older brothers .
He had three---there were J . N. Flores; Antonio Flores, the older brother
named after his father; and Mariano or ~1. E. Flores , and my father . My
father joined these three older brothers at the mercantile store . They
sold groceries; they sold hardware . . . just a mercantile store like they
used to do in those days .
M: Then did your father set up a drugstore in a little corner?
F: Yes, in a little corner, he set up his drugstore. Then, after he'd
been there maybe a year or so, this store became available--for sale--and
he moved into this store here .
M: Was he able to buy the building? Did he have enough money by that time?
FLORES 8.
F: I don't know how he did it . I imagine he bought it on time like
eve rybody else .
M: But he was only 21!
F: He made up his mind that he wasn't going to get married . . . he used to
tell me .. . until he had $10,000 in the bank .
r~: Did he do it?
F: He did it.
M: That's a lot of money in those days .
F: He worked hard . He was a very enterprising guy . t·Jy son reminds me
very much of my Dad .
M: That's a compliment, isn't it?
F: It i s . My son finish ed here and did real well . And he wanted to go
to Notre Dame . I thought that was just too big a jump from a littl e town,
Floresville, to go to Notre Dame . So we applied but we didn't try hard
enough and he went to St . Mary's . When he did well the first semester , he
says, "1 want to go to Notre Dame ." I says, "O.K., now we'll try hard . "
But he was after it . We worked real hard; it was very diffi cult to get in
because they don't accept too many . They had 6,000 appli cant& and they
accepted 1,200 at that time.
M: Di d he know then \~hat he was goi ng to do wi th hi s major?
F: He wanted business; that' s what he wanted to major in and he got his
Business Admini s t ration - -BBA- ·there . This Dean \'Irote him and said , "It 's
not neces sary for you to come because we 've burned up the wires phoning ."
And he said, "What else does it take to meet your requirements?" They
just wouldn't say "yes" to accepting him . At one point we were about to
give up and he was determined he was going . They wrote him to come up
for an interview and then sent him a telegram and told him not to come.
FLORES g.
F: I twas duri ng the Easter vacati on . I never di d fi nd out until th ree
years 1 ater he to 1 d me, "You know Dad, th at day that I 1 eft for South
Bend for my i ntervi ew? I got a telegram the day before not to come . "
I said, "Why did you go?" "Because I wanted to go to Notre Dame . " He
walked into the Dean's office and he said, "Why, Mr . Flores, didn't you
get our wire?" He said, "Yes . " "Well, it wasn't necessary for you to
come." "Yes, it was, because I want to go to s.chool here .. . " And that
cinched it .
M: That sounds like your Dad .
F: It sounds like my Dad . He wanted to be a pharmacist and he was
going after it and he did. And he came back as he says here; he was back
in three years and seven months in Floresville .
M: ~,ith a certificate so he was able to write prescriptions?
F: To fill prescriptions .
r~: Now tell me this- -you mentioned some family had eleven children .
Which family was that?
F: ~~y father .
M: You had ten brothers and sisters.
F: No, my father's family . He was one of eleven children . Here's a
family reunion picture we had here a few years ago .
I~: I can't believe it! It's a yard long . Are those all Flores?
F: Flores descendants.
M: You should frame this .
F: We were expecting 500 and I think we got 325 people .
~1: Did you celebrate here in Floresville?
F: We have a ranch out here, big oak trees, and we gathered at the
FLORES 10.
F: ranch . We got Mr. Go 1 dbeck to take the pi cture . He came out there
and put all these stands up and he did them all by family. Marked them
off . These are the descendants of one family right here; and then all by
groups ; here ' s my mother, there I am, my wife and our only little grand­daughter
. This is my oldest daughter Carol; my son i s the oldest and
that's his wife here . This is the mother of this little child here,
Susan, and her husband, and there is my youngest daughter .
M: How many ch ildren have you got?
F: Four. A boy and three girls .
M: I can 't believe that picture . That is really a treasure. You don't
want anything to happen to that .
F: He came out the first time we had a reunion, and it was black and
white . I didn't expect this one to be color; nobody said it was going to
be in color. Everybody in there is just perfe ct . There isn't a single
person there that's making a face or anything else . He said, "Nowevery­body
stand still . When I say 1-2-3, the camera is going to come by you ."
M: You know he created that first camera . He's a very important citizen
of San Antonio . He 's gO-some now and just back from China.
F: There was an arti cle about him in the paper some time ago and I read
it all--how he invented this process and t he honors he's had . He' s been
allover the world to take very important pictures; document certain events .
M: Getting back to Floresville . You have a ranch . How old is that
ranch? How many hands has that been in? Was that a Spanish land grant?
F: Yes. That's on the'r'ndo si de . See, here 's the San Antonio River-­approximately
right here at Calaveras is a ranch right here on this side
of the river, which would be the west side, west bank . And it was about
two miles wide and went back to Fairvi ew, a little community back here
FLORES 11.
F: about ten, twelve miles--that far back. In fact, I think John
Connally's ranch was in that same parcel of land . That was Manuel Yndo,
my grandfather and his father, my great-grandfather .
t~: Your great-grandfather on that side got the Spanish land grant?
That's 18th century then, isn't it?
F: It goes back to 1832 .
M: You've got land on the river, then?
F: Yes . Now this is Calaveras . Further down south here at Floresville
on this side of the river is the Flores place. It goes--same thing, only
on the other side of the river .
M: Yndo over here and Flores here . Hh i ch one do you own now?
F: Well, both. My mother owns 161 acres over there--still of the old
ranch. And all my cousins--we're all involved and have different parcels .
M: Are they working ranches?
F: No . They have them leased out--there 's no one living there.
M: You're not raising cattle or . . . ?
F: I do . I fool with cattle because I'm right here . I have just a few
head of cattle out there . Just for the fun of it . r·1y daughter, the
youngest daughter, lives out there and sort of looks after the place . It's
easy for her to go into San Antonio or come in here . So she lives out
there . We just enjoy it .
Now over here on the Flores side, we have just 50 acres left .
~1: Sold them off ... Were they both Spa ni sh land grants on either side of
the ri ver?
F: Yes, on both sides .
M: There's an interesting thing that occurs to me talking about ranches
FLORES 12.
M: on water. Back in San Antonio on San Pedro Creek, when the city
fathers decided how much irrigation you were going to get for your piece
of land, they were just narrow strips; they went 'way back so that every­body
could hook into San Pedro Creek . The Flores family lived in there
somewhere . Because it said, " ... the residents on Flores Street."
F: I thi nk it's ri ght in that San Pedro area, on Flores Street .
M: That 's an interes t ing chapter to me, of San Antonio history, because
of the city fathers devi sing the irrigation plan so that everybody gets a
shot of water.
F: If you didn't have water, you were in bad shape .
M: Sure were . That' 5 one of the thi ngs . ..
F: Today it's very easy to drill a well and get ~Iater but in those days
you looked for natural water . It wasn't that easy to dig .
M: Water has been so important , I think that is the reason San Antonio
is where it is today . ..
F: The aquifer . That's why they're always arguing about it and fighting.
I think it's coming to the point where they're going to have to license
somebody to drill--whether you can drill a well or not.
M: There was one thing Gilbert Carvajal told me about that first store
down by the depot that your uncles had. Somebody had told him that it was
a great gathering place; it was sort of a social center.
F: It was . It was the store of the town at the time. And since they
handled everything--they handled even coffins . All the Flores were joke­sters,
so to speak, in a way . One of these older uncles told me this
story: One of the town people, very well known, liked to have his drinks
and he had his bottle . He'd come into the store--he was a good friend of
FLORES 13.
F: theirs--and he'd hide the bottle behind the shelf somewhere. During
the day he'd come in, take the bottle out, and take a swig. They got in
some coffins and one of the newer coffins had this sliding panel. They
showed it to him and he said, "We ll , this is a good place . " So he put his
bottle there--in this coffin . So one day business was slow and everybody
was gone except the emp loyees and this uncle. He saw this man coming and
knew what he was coming for, so he said, "Yol7all entertain him; give me a
few mi nutes . " So as I say, he was a practi ca 1 jokes ter . He runs over
there, opens that coffin, jumps in there and slides the thing shut . This
man starts to rea ch in and when he did--he slides the door open--his hand
struck--there was the body! He never came back! (Laughter)
M: He didn't? That scared him.
Your father joi ned them and then, ,after he 1 eft to buy the drugstore ,
did that me)'cantile store continue a while after that?
F: 'fes, for quite some time . It sort of broke up . The town was moving
gradually to where--I guess the courthouse was built here and the center
of town became where it is today. So he moved up here into town, ri ght
across the street from the courthouse, actual"iy. He had a place right
th ei' e .
M: Who' s I'he?"
F: J . N. Flores and Brother . That viaS '·lariano . Those two brothers
remai ned tO~l ether .
M: Was your father Ignacio, too?
F: Ig na cio .
M: So you 'I'E' kind of a ,1unior . ~i hy do they ca1 1 you Nash?
F: When my father fi rst started the drug business, he had an Anglo
FLORES 14.
F: man working with him and he couldn't call him Ignacio, or he found
it rather difficult, and out of Ignatius, Ignacio is Ignatius, and out of
Ignatius, got Nash . And it stuck with him as a nickname . When I came
along, I'm Nash . My son is Na sh III, so I'm Nash II.
M: Did you grow up here in Floresville? Do you remember what Flores­ville
was like when you were a little boy?
F: Well, we didn't have any paved streets for one thing . Just like this
picture shows you right here . You can 't really appreciate it unl ess you
know Floresville. Just to give you an idea--you saw where the courthouse
was . Thi s is a scene from the courthouse looking north . This building
was our original jail and it's there today. It' s one of the old jails .
M: I went up to the top of the old building this morning .
F: Did you see where they used to hang people?
M: Yes . She showed me the trap door .
F: That's the building that you saw, right there . And if you noticed,
we now have a big electric plant right here . The street--al1 this right
here--were dirt streets . And the street that we're on right now is right
in front of this house . This is 4th Stree t .
M: Quite a few houses, though . What's the date of this picture?
F: 1926 . And we haven't had a snow any bigger than this since then.
M: That old jail! Those little cells! And if it was full, you got
thrown in with someone else . One bathroom on each floor . Now, where is
this?
F: Now this i s looking south from the courthouse on 3rd Street out that
way .
M: Pretty sparsely settled there, isn 't it?
FLORES 15.
F: Yes, very sparse. There's a big building here now, Knights of
Columbus Hall, and there's homes here. Right here is. a boot shop today .
Here's a big automotive building here and laundromat, and on up--this
house is still there.
M: So it's grown some .
F: This house used to be called the Brinkoeter (?) home . All these
streets that you see here, like around the courthouse, used to have these
concrete pillars with pipe all the way around. Fencing around the court­house
.
M: Everything was dirt streets and it was muddy ... Did you have elec­tric
lights back in those days?
F: Yes . We had all the conveniences, really .
We lived right down the street here from this house ... just at the end
of this block. My mother lives in the middle of the next block.
M: So you're all kind of cozy . That's nice . One of the things that
interested me in that document you ' ve got in the drugstore--the newspaper
clipping--I had never heard this: Your family--there were two notable
Flores families in San Antonio--your side they called the Ignacio side;
you were called the Red Flores . I never heard that--because you were
blonde . Castilians .
F: All my father's family--all green-eyed, blue-eyed blondes . On my
father 's side, I guess, that's where they got that .
M: I never heard the term--called Red Flores .
F: I have a couple of my uncles--you know how you call people that are
red-headed, "Red." I guess that's where they got it .
M; Here it says, "They lived at Dolarosa and South Flores ... " The
FLORES
M: Igna cio family . That 's your grandpa.
F: Where's Dolorosa?
16 .
M: You know the Gove rnor's Palace . It's the street that runs on the
east side of that blo ck.
F: That would be about where the City Hall is . Right in there . Now
it's separated to where . . . 1 guess in those days you didn't have . .. well,
it was just the square blo ck, I guess .
M: Mi l itary Plaza.
F: NO .. . not South Flores. In those days you didn't have nice lined
streets straight ...
M: Where the cows came along ...
F: At one point Dolorosa and Flores must have met .
M: So that family, the Flores y Abrego--suppose that's the one that
came in with the Spanish soldiers? Officer?
F: Yes, because he was the alcalde, one of the . .. According to Bob
Thonhoff, he was either the first or among the first alcaldes in San
Antonio--it's got Francisco Flores de Abrego . I've got the book at the
store, I think ... Bob Thonhoff . The front cover or the back cover of his
book has a list of all these alcaldes . I went through there and I noticed
that Francisco Flores de Abrego was an alcalde- - not only once in the early
l700's .. . 17l6, something like that ... and then again , say ten, twelve years
later he was again . He was alcalde three times, I believe it was .
M: He must have done a good job .
F: Well, I guess they didn ' t have anybody else .
M: That happens too, today .
F: You know how those jobs are. Those good civic high-paying jobs . . .
FLORES 17.
F: (doesn't pay anything) ... are easy to come by.
M: You sometimes just have to beg people to take them--such an onerous
business .
F: Somebody has to do it .
M: Carvajal had an extra "a" in there and a "b" instead of the "v" in
the old documents .. . Carabajal . That's the same as the present Carvajals,
isn't it?
F: Yes .
M: "They have always had ranches here below the San Antoni 0 Ri ver; the
town is named for them; a street in San Antonio is named for them; they
had their residence on that street . " (Reading from document . )
Let 's get to the drugstore . Your father, at a very young age ,
started that drugstore . Here' s a thing right in front of me that says,
"In recognition of 75 years of continuous community service, I . D. Flores
Drug Company, Floresville, Texas , 1906 to 1981." You just recently had
that celebration .
F: Yes .
~1: As a customer of Southwest Drug Company .
I4hen your father started, did he sell just drugs or did he have other
things for sale to eke out a living?
F: Prescriptions and drugs . One of his big things were musical instru-ments
.
M: Really? In the drugs tore!
F: I don't know why.
M: Maybe there was a need for that .
F: Showing a picture .
FLORES 18.
M: There's the old Victrola.
F: The old RCA Victrola . You see right up in here, we had a balcony.
We had the stairway right in the middle of the store . We have a second
story that he built . This building that you see right here does not have
a second story when he fi rs t bought it. Now \ve have a second story .
M: He built onto that .
F: He built onto that and he had a doctor's office up there . But he
handled these musical instruments . And if you'll notice you see these
guitars and violins and banjos--hanging up there all around .
M: Looks like an accordion there .
F: I've got a picture downtown of Jimmy
ever hear of him? He was the first Elvis
r~: Afrai d I'm not up on that.
R~ers, the yodeler--did you
Pres/ley . (Laughter)
'-"
F: He was a Western . . . he was the first yodeler that came out Western
yodeling music. I remember when he came down here,we had some young men
working in the store and they were all excited. We had a big music depart-ment.
We handled records . We did a big business in that . A great part
of our business was musical instruments at that time . My Dad tells me
that during World War I, 1918, it almost broke him because he had a lot
of money out on musical instruments . He did a lot of mail order business
by mail . The war came along, everybody went to war, and they just can-celled
out the debt and left him holding the bag . So he lost quite a bit
of money in World War I because of that . He had quite a number of out-standing
accounts receivable--they were gone .
M: He never got them back, I bet .
F: He also tells me about the time--how business ran . He got a letter
FLORES 19.
F: one day and he opened it up and there were three $100 bills in it
from a fellow in San Angelo. (He put out a catalogue of musical instru­ments
. ) And this fellow wrote in--in the catalogue there wasn't a one of
these pianolas , they called it in those days, for a theatre . And this guy
wanted to buy a piano1a--and it was $1,300 ,00 . He didn't know how much
it was but he sent him $300 in the envelope and said, "I want a pianola . "
So my Dad set to work and located who was in the business of making piano­las
and had one bought without ever seeing it--shi pped it to the man for
$1,30.0 ,00 and never saw the thing--just had it shipped straight from the
factory to the man, The man paid him the rest of the $1,300.00.
M: He trusted the man to pay the rest of the money . Those days were some­thing
different .
F: Different from today . You go through a credit check and that sort of
thing . They took a man 's word then .
~1: Why do you suppose he went to musical instruments? In a drugstore!
That's the darndest combination.
F: That's true , But even through the years--he didn't playa musical
instrument--he couldn't carry a tune .
M: There must have been a good profit .
F: There was. Plus the fact that he merchandised it, apparently .
M: The cata1ogue . .. he must have .
F: And then in later years, here comes the radio with batteries . Now
that's when I came along; when I was young. We used to sell thos e small
table models with a big old battery about this long . We sold those; that
was a big part of our business . A substantial part of our business was
selling those radios.
FLORES 20.
M: I noti ce there is another drugs tore in town . Is there enough bus i nes.s.
in Floresville for two drugstores?
F: Yes .
M: Did your fath er , way back when he was beginning, when he was filling
prescriptions, did he ever mention any old wives' medicines?
END OF TAPE I, Side 1 - 45 minutes
T APE I, Side 2
F: We handle herbs today . We've got maybe over 250 different kinds of
herbs . The biggest sellers, the more popular ones--we have about fifty of
them downstairs and we have a warehouse in the back with some more herbs .
Drawers up there, with bags ...
I~: l~hat are they for?
F: Well, they are all home remedies . We have camomile flO\~ers which is
called manzanilla, good for upset stomach or what ha ve you . We have
peppermint herb which is called yerba buena; we have yerba anise, anise
herb; and we have the star anise . We carry canela, which is cinnamon .
M: You do? You carry the spices, too?
F: We don't carry it as a spice; we carry it as medicine .
M: Canela tea .
F: Yes, you make a tea . We have quite a number of those things . We
sell a lot of them .
M: Are your customers for the herbs mostly Mexican-Americans?
F: No . We've got Anglo, t·lexican-American, Polish, Bohemian, German ...
Oh, you mean for the herbs. Yes, for the herbs it's mostly Mexican­Americans
.
FLORES 21.
M: The reason I ask is I was in Pizzini 's in the market looking for
epazote; they were the only ones in town who had it . And they had great
containers of medicinal herbs .
F: What did you use epazote for?
M: Beans . You can't cook beans without epazote; didn ' t you know that?
F: No, I di dn ' t .
M: It ' s a weed, of course, and it smells horrible . But you're supposed
to put a sprig of epazote in your beans . When I was in Oaxaca last year I
learned you're supposed to put a leaf from an avocado tree in, too . So I
do that.
F: I'm learning something!
M: The old Navarro houses over on Santa Rosa have a swept backyard and
in that hard, packed ground was epazote growing allover . When the state
took the property over, they cleaned it all out .
F: I never heard of using it in beans, really .
M: Do you sell it?
F: Yes, we sell it .
M: What do they do with it?
F: Home remedy is all I know . They make a tea out of it. I'm going to
try it.
M: It grows very easily . They say once you get it started ... .
So you're selling herbs and you don't frown on this; as a pharmacist,
you don't disapprove .
F: Well, no, because for this reason--I don ' t think any of them are
going to hurt you for one thing but the main thing ;s people expect us
to. We've been doing it for 75 years . So if they expect us to handle
FLORES 22.
F: it, why, we 're going to.
M: And also, they expect it to do good; there's a lot of psychology
there .
F: Psychology, in my es timation, is one of the greatest things for
healing. I remember many years ago there was a young man who had been
rattles nake bit--see that house right over there, that white roof over
there? There used to be a hospital there. This kid, they brought him in
on a wagon--that was in the days of the wagon--I was about 12 , 13 yea rs
old, working at the store. They brought this kid in with the rattlesnake
bite . They put a tourniquet on and by the time they came in-- never loosened
the tourniquet--and gang rene set in . The doctor wanted to cut hi s hand off
here . It was a Mexican fami ly . The doctor told my Dad , "Would you go up
there? I've been talking to them . (He could speak a little bit of Spanish . )
I want you to go up there and explain to them why we have to do this .
They don ' t want me to cut off that hand . I can ' t blame them . But it's
got to be done because it 's gangrene . . . that's all there is to it ."
We came home for lunch . On our way to lunch we went by there with
the do ctor . I went into the room , too, and there was a terrific odor.
Dad gave a big talk to the mother and the father and they were just ada­mant;
no sir, that wasn't going to take place. Dad said, "Well, if you
don't, it's going to have to come up to here and once it gets up here in
the rest of the body there's nothing you can do . Right now you can stop
it." They said, "No," and that poor boy died .
So you know that that man--we have a bunch of cura nderos--you know
what curanderos are?
M: Sure .
FLORES 23.
F: In the area. Several years later, my Dad ran into this man or he
came into the store and they got to talking and something went back to
this case about his son. And this old man says, "You know, I still think
that Don Vi vi ana (that was the curandero) mus t have made a mi s take when he
made hi s prayers over my son and do ctored him . He just missed something
somewhere because my boy didn't get well." He still had faith even after
he 'd lost his son .
M: Do you still have them down here?
F: No, no, not as such. We had up to here a year or so ago, there was
one out here in the co untry. And a few of them sort of--they don't really
act as curanderos but people look to them because of age; they know some
old remedies . And maybe they ' ll name off manzanilla, camomile flowers,
things of that nature . But it's not a curandero as such that you go to
see . Now in San Antonio, you've got them yet .
~1 : A lot of people swear by them . Anglos, too .
F: A lot of people here go to San Antonio to see them . I guess that's
where we sell our herbs . They come back with a little list of two, three
herbs .
~1: Your father started when he was a very young man--20, 2l--with his own
store which is still the one you're running . He said he was going to have
$10 ,000 before he married . And he did it . Who did he marry?
F: Herminia Yndo .
M: Oh, this is the picture; the Yndo girl .
F: They went to a thirty-day honeymoon trip by boat from New Orleans. to
Nia~a Falls .
M: Pretty fancy for those days .
FLORES 24 .
F: Tremendous . I didn't do it myself. I couldn't afford it .
M: You spoke of being in the store when you were about 12 years old .
Did you start hanging around the store or working there fairly young?
F: I worked there when I was seven years old.
M: You did! That young .
F: My job used to be washing bottles . In those days--here's an old
bottle .
M: Look at that wonderful old bottle . Somebody 's dug that up . It's
got your name on it . 1. 0. Flores, Prescription Druggist . (Another)
that got your name on it, too?
F: Yes . Central Drug Store--you saw that sign-·-Central .
M: Did they have corks?
F: Yes, they had corks .
~1 : And they brought the bottles back and refilled them . I bet they
were expensive.
Has
F: Well, yes, and those days we didn ' t think about sterilization and
that sort of thing like you do now . You'd soak them in one tub of water,
wash them in the second one with soap, and then rinse them in the third
tub.
M: Probably pretty good. The soap would kill most of the germs you 'd
expect to find in a bottle .
F: We kept our prescriptions in a box--like these cigar boxes--and you
see "Flores Special ." We had cigars made for us with our name on it .
M: And those are some of your old pres.criptions . Are some of them funny
now when you look at them?
F: Here 's one that's kind of interesting . My grandfather 's pres cription
FLORES 25 .
F: Number One .
M: Your grandfather?
F: The one you saw pictures of--this one right here . This man here,
born in 1846 . That is from my grandfather--1906 , when he was 65--just
trying to figure out . . .
M: (Figuring)
F: He was 60 years old there .
M: I can read some of those prescriptions.
F: Reading some of the prescriptions: carbolic acid , salicylic acid,
yellow vaseline .. .
M: I 'm confused now. What was your grandfather doing with prescriptions?
F: He went to see the doctor . In other words, my father filled the
prescription for his father.
M: I see what you mean. This picture of the drugstore fascinates me .
Tile floor, looks like .
F: It's an old linoleum .
M: You've got four people in that picture behind the counter . Does that
mean employees in that drugstore?
F: He had eleven employees . He had a newspaper, too, back then . They
had eleven employees at that time because he had a weekly paper that he
printed and this catalogue of his merchandise . Apparently did lots of
business because he told me one time he had as many as eleven employees .
TAPE TURNED OFF WHILE F. ANSWERED THE PHONE.
M: You don't know if this is the oldest drugstore in the state, but it
is certainly the oldest store in Floresville . Is. there anything else
you ' d like for the record on this tape?
FLORES 26.
F: If you're talking about old stories, I'll tell you one that happened
about 30 years ago, or more . We used to get up quite a bit; in fact , I
set a record getting up six times in one night for emergency calls . Go
down at any hour . In fa ct, we have never sai d, "No . " A whi 1 e ago, when
,!\e. 'Ie.'<'
I said 98 years of service, that means we have ~;\said, "No," my father
nor I. If I answer the phone and you catch me at home and you've got a
prescription, we'll go fill it--any hour . We always have done that .
This particular f ellow ca lled me at one o'clock in the morning . 1
went down to fill his prescription and while I was filling it , he said,
"You know, 1 'm low on gas . The s tation that used to stay open all night
has started closing . " I said, "Yes , they're closed now . " He said, "I
sure do need some gas." In those days, we handled gasoline in the store.
We bought it and fi ltered it through fi lter paper because people waul d
buy it for the gasoline irons to iron clothes . He would s.ell it for 50<1:
a gallon which was high-pri ced because gasoline in those days was maybe
18¢ or 19<1: . But to filter it and put it in a gallon bottle and all that
sort of thing--1abe1 it, 1abor- -we got 50¢ . So I told him, "I ' ve got some
gasoline here but it's filtered . It 's 50¢ a gallon . Would you like to
buy a gallon or two just to get you home?" He said, "That's great . Let
me have it ." So while I filled his prescription he runs out to the car
and puts in two gallons; comes back . He says, "You know , I 'm really low
on oil . " I said, "It 's a funny thing--my father buys oil by the cas e .
We just got in a dozen cans of oil today for his car . If you have to have
one, I 'm sure he'd be glad to let you have one." So I sold him a quart of
oil, two gallons of gas and filled his prescription at one o'clock in the
morning. (Laughter)
FLORES 27 .
M: Have you ever had any trouble with drug people trying to break in
to steal drugs?
F: We've been b.urglarized several times . Three or four times .
M: Drugstores seem to be havi ng that ki nd of a problem .
I hate to stop this tape .
F: Come back again.
M: I will . Thank you .
I .D. FLORES
I . D. Flores is the fourth generation of the Flores family
prominent in early San Antonio history.
Both sides of the family, Yndos and Flores, were Canary
Islanders ; both had Spanish land grants either side of the
river in the vicinity of Floresville.
The Flores Drug SEore , begun by I . D.'s father in 1906
still flourishes in Floresville .
Biographical material .
L D. F~£>~;S. JR I. D. FLORES (ti'.;S,i!® DRUG (0.
~~~~~~~ D EPENDABLE PRESCR IPTIO NS
FOUNDER: 1.0. FLORES 1886-1g6 1
PHONE 393-252.5 P. O. BOX 26
Floresville, Texas 78114
/~.r}fy
OVER 70 YEARS DEPENDABLE SERV ICE
EST. SEPT . 20, \906
RhU <ls~ Lr/Wm~ ~
'0« ~~ ~ /l~
n~r' ci!.A'~ f-ndj
~ ~-r: r- J
,
~~~~
7b~~ Hd 'nf:J
w~~M1~
--/-or' j~ F~
tI JI~
T. ,D. r ~re,:-.5 J/E:.
VETERINARY SUPPLIES - BABY NEEDS - COSMETICS - SURGICAL APPLIANCES - CONVALESCENT AIDS
I. O. FLORES DRUG CO.
OVER 75 YEARS OF DEPENDABLE SERVIC,
393·2525 FLORESVILLE, TEXAS 78114
COV1 of Article in the San Ant onio Express ot Sunday Mornini, June 7, 191'
; \
UNION OF TWO DISTINGUISHllD FAMILIES FLOATS TO SURFACE,
R()(ANCE THAT WAS LINKED WITH THE SAN ANTONIO OF OIDP
\
In the marrlase of ljplacl0 P. Florea and Mba He:rm1na Yndo, wh,"ch took
plaee Monday at 8an Pemando Cathedral, there were unIted scIons of two
of the oldeat and moat hiatorical famI1Iea 1n Texaa. Both are desoend­enta
tlt men who were 1IIIIem&. the oriainal thIrteen Canary Island Co11lniata
who came to Texaa 1n the EIghteenth Century and were practlcallY tlut
founders of San AntoniO, from a commercIal and eoola1 atandpo1n~. fc.11O'tf-
1ng c10eely upon the eatabliahment of mlaa10na by the Franols0-r Fathera.
and the oonsequent open inS for 001onlzat1on. '
The YMO family is deaoeMed on the paternal side fran Don Manuel YIlda, '.
a Spanlab offIcer, who waa atatloned 'In San Antonl0 In the besInn1n&
ot the N1neteenth Century, whIle thia was atl11 a Spanlsh colony. He
,
'.
marrle. Marla Caulano zambrano .Tune 29, 1812 and tbia bl'9U&bt the de- "
aoendanoy into prominent Texal! tamilles. The !ebrano family was ve17 prOlll';'.
inent 1n Texae durlni the Spanlab dom1nation. A deacendant of the Yndo- '
ZUlbroaa Union. Don M1euel, marrled, In 1849L l!argarita DeJ."ado, Dau&bter
at Juan DeIsado, a deecendant of the Cana17 ~lIlander of that name, and of
the Leal and Acoata 18ml1ie8, al80 Canar,y Islanders.
ar Distlngulshed Anoeet17.
Qgoting fran a hletor,y ·ot that period it le stated that WOon Miguel was
known a. an hone.t. courteoua and hoapitable sent1emani popular amolli hl.
nelahbors and a worth,. deeoendant ot a CastllUan Gent eman."
Hl. aon, Manuel. haa a ranoh in Wl1aon County. am Is a prominent man In
that .ect lon.
other membera ot thl. d1atlneulehed tam1ly at1l1 Uve 1n San AntoniO, and
amons theae are Mr. and Mrs . Jl'anue1 Yndo, who 11ve 1n the old home on
~rth Florea Street, and are the Parent a ot the bride.
The tami1y ot the groom la equally dlstiniulshed. There were two notable
famllIea ot Florea 1n San Antonio 1n the early daYII, the one from whioh
.prang Ignacio D. Florea, the aubjeot of this aketoh, beilli known aa the
"Red Florea- a. they were a blonde Caet1111an type. They llved at Deloro ••
and South Florea Street., and were of the Florea de Abrego, a "'17 old
tami1y, whioh came here in the time of Don Dom1ngo Ramon. Don F'ranc1aoo
Flore. de Abrego marrled on May I, 1722. Donna !.taria Sapopa de Carabajal,
and the family haa always been a prominent and Inf1uential one in thIs
a •• tion ot the country.
They have alwlqa had ta:rma and ranohea below here on the San AntonIo River.
the town of Flore.vi11e, in theIr vlcinlty, being named for them. Their
name is a1.0 perpetuatea In San Antonio by Flores Street upon whioh were ~
the tami1y re.idenoe. and whioh took Its name from that fact.
Memorie. of Loni Aio.
Both faml1iea have married and intermarried with other old Spaniah fam­l1ie.
untl1 nearly allot them are related In varied degrees of nearnea ••
AM from all of theae faml1iea have sprung at dlfferent tIme. men and
women who have been distinguiahed In Texas history. Several of the dauiht­ers
have been married into the a:rmy, and many of tht! men have held publI0
offioe of various sorts 1n the City.
.... -
2.
All the old cltlzens or San Antonl0 take a special Interest in the mar­riRie
ot these yOuni people, and many historlcal reminisoenoes are being
reoalled as the names br1n& back old soenea and old memorles, and
It ls Interestll1i to know that these memorira are gradually being
iathered together and published as a meana of perpetuating this de­lightful
phase of early SMX1·~ Antonio, or, rather, Texas hlstory.
From memoirs already PUbllSh~~i notable those of J. M. Rodrlquez, who
was descended from the Canary slanc1 Rodriques, and through maternal
--branch fran mllD7 otlSer of those noted 1'am1l1es much Interest1n& informa­tion
is gUaned coneePnina these pioturesque peopl.e who .. earl7 history
constituted so largely to that or San Antonio.
Many Hi.torical Name.
The people of pure Spanish de.cent who lived here in the earliest dar.
had few oommercial purauits, these being Introduced later by several
prominent Iri.h, French and German famille., who intermarried with these
orlginal settlers, and thus became ident1!led themselves with that phase
of San Antonl0 11te and hlstory. "one thes. were the Dwyers, the Callaghans, the 9ilbeau., the Lacostea, tB. Bohnets and others.
But these old aristocrats fran Spain led royal lives. Owning their lands
ot princely dtmensions, they raised their own cattle and sheep on a
thouaand hills, and tarms and truit orchards contributed those products
to which tblly baa been 1II:Icu.tomeCl in S12IMl'I S".lft.
Imported for their uae were all the luxurles of the Old World. Most
of the traffic was fran Port lavaca, bringing stores,landed there by wagon
overland much or thia golDg on through Chihuahua, of old Mexico,
Santa P'e and El P&lo. The persons employed in that traffic at that tilDl
mainly enoamped along the San Pedro Creek, in the location now chiefly in­habited
by Mexicans, and the little village which thus sprang up at the
time wa. called "Little Chihuahua."
The old tamilies were all wea1t~ and wore the tinut clothas, tmported
from Prance, and furnished their homes with handsanely carved tmported
article., many ot which are still in the possession ot their desoendant ••
The annexation of Texas to the United States and the ooming of the troops
to this place brought a new era in eocial lite, in which the people held
a prominent part.
Among these historical 1'ami11e., most 01' whan ... related by intermarrlage,
al'lI the Jravarroa the Manchao .. , P'lores" Yndos, Casstanos, Garz*, V.roo
_~t." Leal." ~amon •• Chawz. Yturrla, Perez, Barreraa. Monte imd Ruiz.
allot whom have descendants stl1l llviDi In San Antonio and mo t ot whom
are also connected with the old German. French and Irish t81111lies whose
namea are hlstoric in this violnit7.
Copled September 3, 1934
---by I. D. Florea, Jr.
.. -1""".., ......
tiertr.lnlH Yndo-
Great 'Jrand Qed.,:hte r' of
EsasmuB. ~e~f , ~lth.
:lndo 1.
1000, ;':alluel.
Ignaoio J;. L'lores
**'k*'$"i~*
!'l.:,()(l Cf,fLHUGl :V ult..) , .... ;c1s t (i,;' (:: r-t l : '::l ~ O n '..Jf {V1s:nu £: l Yild o j 8 ~ ~ )ani~h
otf"ioer, who was stationed at San Antonio fit the begill1l1116 of tbe
19th century. dls f ·- tl);·r wns 4ugustln Yndo lind his mother 5 0na
;':arla il ntonla I\ slmlfl!lray. ile marrL,d :k_r1a Casl.ana 2;ambranu un the
/
29th of July, 1812, d 'lughte r of (ledro l.a!l:bI'8IlO and Concepcl.on de
los Santos.
fhe 2.ambrano fam11y was very promlnent In r -exas durin", the ':r-anlsil
Domlnatl.on of.(exas. Jose/r'larla ;;ambl'allo, Jose LeriO ~umbr&.no
and Juan Nanuel were especially well klluwn. .l-hey Were descendtUlt;1l
of Haroario ,:ambrano Hnd Juana de gcon y l 'ril10. I/Gln ,-edro &lcon y
'1'rl110, h<:r f ed-her, oel.ng Cl natlve of S;paln, 1'1'0 0' the (?rovl i10e of
/'f\ll a~!l-.
,,~ .• ,R,l~~ -~ a -Y~r~ l.a.r&_ £M4Ul. U11i1 .m. N1Sl.lel Xn£io roo.rrlt!d )
ln 1849/,argarlta Velgado, dRughter of Juan lJelgado a descendunt of
the Canary Islanders. lils ancesturs bel1-:e; Juan Oele;Cldu illJd lC<ltarina
Leal. daughter of Juan Leal el j'Jozo, a nd j';urla ~l16r&.clCJ. J\-costLl, a
nntive of the Canary Islands, and seln of LUCaS liele-ado ()f Lanzarote.
Don Niguel ' IRS kr: OIm 8S a ll honest, c ourteous (1.11d hospl table
gentleman '·'nd very popular among 111s nel-.;i1bors, a worthy descendant
of a Ccttll1' \n gentleman.
,i1s son, .'_anuel, l1HS :, ranch " nd farm in "11son County and 1s
r eg arded as Gne of t nil tr.o :Jt sUbsta..tlal ,,;nu respected men in ;~xar·
-4-
-
~""'f
20driguez Hemolrs of -.:trly l'..~XCS. 191). p. 68
:':anuel, Yndo
I\gust1,. n Yndo - Dona i~aria ontonla Aslmlga.ray.
r';anuel Ynoo - ;':Hria Casinna la~bl'£lnO
i
Migue,l Yndo - Margarlta Delgado
i-ianue,l Yl1do - Ge rtrudes i'<, rin
/'termini!:! Yndo - Ignacio -10:'68.
~
:';otes on ~panlsh ancestry of t !1e Yndt.; r 'ami1y t d ,en frvu; the nOCbS
of tsther l-erez CarvaJal, entltled "Geneoloe:,le3 and liotes 01' t;he
Desoendants of the Canary Islanders I the Founders of the C1. ty of
San hntool0.·
1. ;:'aria "'ss1.ana ~ambraIlo, descendant of i'I8rcariu ;z.arobrano
':-~:: :d JU8 n ~_ .. 5e Ococ y '1 r1110. JU: .I }i. ,_c on y j:ril lo .~"'l3 cile d bU llte r
~,.,.. . ,..... '00011 'T blllo • • nati •• of Malaga Spain.
2. Canary Islanders, "ncestol's of Yndo Family.
Delgado Farolly
Lucas Lelgado - !'.arlana ;"iellan
Lucas born i" !,.ance r ote
Jpaln about 1700
1'iarlana ,dhughter
of Jirallalsco <md
Ines de 110yos
born in ~oerote
about 1700.
Juan Delgado - Catarlna ~eal
duu~ ht e r of ';w;,n Leal el
5 i4ozo .. ~nd ,:aira eLl uraala
- - HCOS...a.
'-
J ugge s tions for u 'rhesis.
I 'l' h ') C8na ry =sla nde rs.
;.;argar1ta i..-elgado wife of ;·.1gule Yndo,
descendant of Juan ~el~ado
<,nd Cutar1aIl£l. i.eal a bove.
II - he : ~)f ... n1s :1 I.\ or.1 1 nc; t1. ~)n of j.e:<dS.
III Leaf Smith.
Itt:?" .:; ..... ~.". " te-
-6-

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INTERVI EW WITH:
DATE:
PLACE:
INTERVIEWER:
I. D. FLORES, JR. (IGNACIO)
May 12, 1983
Fl ores' Home; Floresville, Texas
Esther MacMillan
M: What I'd like to do is start with you first . . . where you were born
and when1- And then move backward into your background. Were you born
here in Fl oresville?
F: No, I was really born in San Antonio . We were living here but
because of medi ca l compl i cat ions I had to be born in San Antonio .
M: What year? Do you mind telling me?
F: 1918.
M: You're just a young man! But your home was here in Floresvi ll e?
F: Yes.
M: Did you say you lived on a ranch?
F: No, we've lived r i ght here in town. In fact, just a half bl ock down
the street is whe re I grew up.
M: One of the things I was interested in . . . t he Flores fam ily had such an
impact on this part of the country . . . they named all kinds of places for
them . When I was doing some research work over on San Pedro Creek in
San Antonio where it comes through and meets the r i ver, there's a street
called "Flores ." In some of the reading it said the name came from the
fa ct that all those pieces of property ran irri gation ditches into t he
San Pedro Creek. And t hat there were lots of flowers . But in some of
your documents I've read today, it says t he Flores family had t heir resi­dence
on that street.
F: If you notice, t hat was in that article there of the "San Antonio
Express" of June 7, 1914 . . .
FLORES 2.
M: It says, "They've always had fams and ranches be low here on the San
Antonio River; the town of Floresville named for them and the street in
San Antonio, on which the family had its residence, was also named "Flores."
~'1: Flores Street. And it 's still Flores Street.
F: We're familiar today with Fl ores Street as mostly South Flores be-cause
it extends so far . And actually, it extended all the way to the
county line. Our ranch right now, where our place is, which is ten miles
northwest of Floresvi lle . . . you drive stra ight north on F~1 1303, on that
Farm to Market Road and up to just a few years ago, the sign was there
at the co unty line that said, South Flores Street . And if you stayed on
that street you went right on in to San Antonio .
Now, of course, it 's Fam to Market Road 1303, then you're on 1604,
then you're on IH 37 and all that sort of thing . But originally if you
stayed on the old road it would go in back of San Fernando Cathedral there
on South Flores Street .
I meant to ask my mother; I th ink the house actually was up there
close to San Pedro Springs.
~1: 'Way up thel'e?
F: I think so .
M: It goes right behind the Park ~an Pedrcil--Flores Street.
F: My mother, in earlier conversations with her, remembers that they
used to have some very fine cultivated land there . It was a small area;
just like Floresville . .. even if you live here and somebody lives cl ear
across town ... today t hat 's just a matter of a few blocks. So I would
think they lived a close distance from each other .
M: Get me 'way back to the beginning of the Floreses in Texas . They're
Cana ry Is 1 anders, is that ri ght?
FLORES
F: Yes . The early founders who came to San Antonio .
M: Did they come with the first group?
3.
F: As far as I can tell . I haven't really researched it that much but
everybody tells me that they were among the first Canary Islanders . Yes .
M: Something I've read mentions the Flores; Canary Is landers . Are you
third or second generation here?
F: Let's see .. , I 'd be the third . My grandfather , father and me . . . that's
three . His father, too .. . that would be four ,
M: Where did he come from?
F: He's bound to have been born here . In the early 17 .. .
f1: Your great-grandfather?
F: Well, you see my grandfather was bo rn in 1846 .
f1: So your great-grandfather in the late 1700s . Here?
F: Yes .
M: Did they come from Spain or the Canary Islands?
F: The Canary Islands . If you notice in that article, both families
are early Canary Island families .
M: And they inter-marri ed, I notice .
F: Yes, in many instan ces ... Carvajals, Rodriguez and Leals . ..
M: Yndo is an interesting name ,
F: Yes, I have never seen it except in our family .
M: In that clipping you have down in the drug store--the marriage--is
that of your father?
F: Yes.
M: That was your father getting married . That was. 1914 . He was
marrying an Yndo .. . an odd name . That' s Canary Island, too, I guess.
FLORES 4.
F: Yes . ~ly grandfather was a son of an early army officer ... Spanish
officer . Sent here with the early Canary Islanders .
M: They sent the army to protect them from the Indians , particularly.
F: I would think so . Because we have a mission out here - -Las Cabras
Mission--was dedicated--we had a field mass here last year .
t-1: That's a famous ranch.
F: They're digging that out .. . excavating and cleaning up around there .
The Sta te of Texas actually has purchased all of that land . It' s a state
park.
M: I re cently acqui red an i ntervi.ew wi th Fa ther Mari on Habi g . He's a
Fran cis can who has written two definitive books on the missions . One
called "San Antonio 's San Jos~ Mi ss ion" and the other, I think , "San
Antonio 's Chain of Missions ." He talks about the ranch. Las Cabras was
the ranch connected with San Josemission .
F: It was a satellite Church, you might say . An outpost, really .
t~: In doing research on San Jose you find that in the morning the Indians
who were inside the compo und were given their duties for the day , And
those who worked in the fields, down on the ranch, were accompanied by
mounted so ldiers to protect them from Indian raids . So Las Cabras is a
very historic pie ce of land .
Your great-grandfather, then, 18th century Canary Islander, was a
Spani sh offi ce r.
F: That's on my mother's side. I can't tell you any more on my father's
side any more than my grandfather.
M: He was in the military so we don't need to know what his business was;
but what about your grandfather? l.Jhat business did he engage in?
FLORES
F: l'ly grandfather was just mostly ranch ing, farming out here.
M: He was a rancher. Was he successful?
F: I wouldn't say so .
M: They were hard times .
5.
F: They were hard times. Everybody worked hard. There were eleven
children . When my Dad came into Floresville to look for a job, he started
in an existing drugsto~e that was here then . He was sixteen years old and
some months at that time. He decided that he wanted to become a pharmacist .
M: Your father?
F: Yes . At sixteen years old . He liked it and that's what he wanted.
And to do that, he had to go to San Antonio . So he moved to San Antonio ...
and I've got a little book there . .. when he worked, he worked for $5 .00 a
month; then increased to $7 .00 a month. Then he moved to San Antonio and
he got $25.00 a month there. He' s got entries there . And up to $35 .00 .
And right there where t he City Hall is, to the right, as you wa lk out of
City Hall, right on the corner, South Fl ores, is there--there was a big
drugs tore there- -George Keene Drugs tore in those days . It \vas a very fi ne
store .
I remember the store, as a young kid , that used to be there . My Dad
used to go in there, made friends with the owner and the pharmacist there
and used to go there--you studied as an apprentice . Then when he t hought
he knew enough to take the exam, he would take the exams and he would be
approved or disapproved . St udy some more .
M: And he did it!
F: Yes. When he was 21 years old, he came back home to set up his drug ·
busines s.
FLORES 6.
M: He must have been a go-getter.
F: Looking at the record: You see, he wrote here in Spanish at that
time and he started working for $5 .00 a month--16 years and 5 months .
Two months at $5 .00 and he got raised to $7 .00 and in 1903 he want up to
$10.00 a month - -then $12 .00 . And he worked there . Then he moved to San
Antonio and he began to work for F. A. Chapa at San Antonio on Tuesday,
March 8, 1904 .
I ' ve got a letter here from Mr . Chapa himself ... some old items I
found .. . here it is: "F . A. Chapa, Pharmacist , San Antonio. ~1arch 4, 1904.
Dear sir, Yours of February 27 duly received. I am sorry you are not a
graduated or registered pharmacist so I could place you in my store as
my head druggist. But, nevertheless, I could uS.e you as night clerk as
my drug store is open all night . I think if you are ambitious and willing
to work, in a year or so you can accomplish a great deal in my house. If
you are willing to work and to learn, I will assure you that I will take
special care in your training . I have inquired about your character and
I have received very good reports . If you come up, I may take the matter
up with you . Let me hear from you. Truly yours, F. A. Chapa ."
M: Is that the father of the present Chapa?
F: Frank Chapa is the old man right now . He was a Lt. Colonel, retired,
from the army. He's not a pharmacist .
M: This Frank Chapa is his father?
F: Yes . His father .
M: And that was 1904. Di d your father go, then, to work for Hr . Chapa?
F: Yes . In this book ... he 's got in here; "I began to work for F. A.
Chapa in San Antonio, Tuesday, ~1arch 8, 1904. "
FLORES 7.
M: What did he get paid?
F: $25 .00 . Then later on, he began to work for the San Antonio Drug
Company in 1904 , in November .
M: He didn ' t stay with Chapa very long .
F: No . $35 .00 and then $45.00 . "I registered when I was 20 years and
three months . " Then he got his certificate in three years and seven months .
M: To be a pharmacist . He did! From apprenticing with all these people .
F: He says, "I opened my drugs tore September 9, 1906, at the depot. And
then in 1908, January 1, we bought the ~1 . M. Hughes." That 's this store
right here .
M: Where you are now? ~1r. Carvajal told me about a store down by the
depot.
F: That's what he's talking about here .
M: Gilbert told me your father started a store by the depot for furni­ture
and implements, etc . It wasn ' t just a drugstore?
F: It was a regular mercantile store . That was his older brothers .
He had three---there were J . N. Flores; Antonio Flores, the older brother
named after his father; and Mariano or ~1. E. Flores , and my father . My
father joined these three older brothers at the mercantile store . They
sold groceries; they sold hardware . . . just a mercantile store like they
used to do in those days .
M: Then did your father set up a drugstore in a little corner?
F: Yes, in a little corner, he set up his drugstore. Then, after he'd
been there maybe a year or so, this store became available--for sale--and
he moved into this store here .
M: Was he able to buy the building? Did he have enough money by that time?
FLORES 8.
F: I don't know how he did it . I imagine he bought it on time like
eve rybody else .
M: But he was only 21!
F: He made up his mind that he wasn't going to get married . . . he used to
tell me .. . until he had $10,000 in the bank .
r~: Did he do it?
F: He did it.
M: That's a lot of money in those days .
F: He worked hard . He was a very enterprising guy . t·Jy son reminds me
very much of my Dad .
M: That's a compliment, isn't it?
F: It i s . My son finish ed here and did real well . And he wanted to go
to Notre Dame . I thought that was just too big a jump from a littl e town,
Floresville, to go to Notre Dame . So we applied but we didn't try hard
enough and he went to St . Mary's . When he did well the first semester , he
says, "1 want to go to Notre Dame ." I says, "O.K., now we'll try hard . "
But he was after it . We worked real hard; it was very diffi cult to get in
because they don't accept too many . They had 6,000 appli cant& and they
accepted 1,200 at that time.
M: Di d he know then \~hat he was goi ng to do wi th hi s major?
F: He wanted business; that' s what he wanted to major in and he got his
Business Admini s t ration - -BBA- ·there . This Dean \'Irote him and said , "It 's
not neces sary for you to come because we 've burned up the wires phoning ."
And he said, "What else does it take to meet your requirements?" They
just wouldn't say "yes" to accepting him . At one point we were about to
give up and he was determined he was going . They wrote him to come up
for an interview and then sent him a telegram and told him not to come.
FLORES g.
F: I twas duri ng the Easter vacati on . I never di d fi nd out until th ree
years 1 ater he to 1 d me, "You know Dad, th at day that I 1 eft for South
Bend for my i ntervi ew? I got a telegram the day before not to come . "
I said, "Why did you go?" "Because I wanted to go to Notre Dame . " He
walked into the Dean's office and he said, "Why, Mr . Flores, didn't you
get our wire?" He said, "Yes . " "Well, it wasn't necessary for you to
come." "Yes, it was, because I want to go to s.chool here .. . " And that
cinched it .
M: That sounds like your Dad .
F: It sounds like my Dad . He wanted to be a pharmacist and he was
going after it and he did. And he came back as he says here; he was back
in three years and seven months in Floresville .
M: ~,ith a certificate so he was able to write prescriptions?
F: To fill prescriptions .
r~: Now tell me this- -you mentioned some family had eleven children .
Which family was that?
F: ~~y father .
M: You had ten brothers and sisters.
F: No, my father's family . He was one of eleven children . Here's a
family reunion picture we had here a few years ago .
I~: I can't believe it! It's a yard long . Are those all Flores?
F: Flores descendants.
M: You should frame this .
F: We were expecting 500 and I think we got 325 people .
~1: Did you celebrate here in Floresville?
F: We have a ranch out here, big oak trees, and we gathered at the
FLORES 10.
F: ranch . We got Mr. Go 1 dbeck to take the pi cture . He came out there
and put all these stands up and he did them all by family. Marked them
off . These are the descendants of one family right here; and then all by
groups ; here ' s my mother, there I am, my wife and our only little grand­daughter
. This is my oldest daughter Carol; my son i s the oldest and
that's his wife here . This is the mother of this little child here,
Susan, and her husband, and there is my youngest daughter .
M: How many ch ildren have you got?
F: Four. A boy and three girls .
M: I can 't believe that picture . That is really a treasure. You don't
want anything to happen to that .
F: He came out the first time we had a reunion, and it was black and
white . I didn't expect this one to be color; nobody said it was going to
be in color. Everybody in there is just perfe ct . There isn't a single
person there that's making a face or anything else . He said, "Nowevery­body
stand still . When I say 1-2-3, the camera is going to come by you ."
M: You know he created that first camera . He's a very important citizen
of San Antonio . He 's gO-some now and just back from China.
F: There was an arti cle about him in the paper some time ago and I read
it all--how he invented this process and t he honors he's had . He' s been
allover the world to take very important pictures; document certain events .
M: Getting back to Floresville . You have a ranch . How old is that
ranch? How many hands has that been in? Was that a Spanish land grant?
F: Yes. That's on the'r'ndo si de . See, here 's the San Antonio River-­approximately
right here at Calaveras is a ranch right here on this side
of the river, which would be the west side, west bank . And it was about
two miles wide and went back to Fairvi ew, a little community back here
FLORES 11.
F: about ten, twelve miles--that far back. In fact, I think John
Connally's ranch was in that same parcel of land . That was Manuel Yndo,
my grandfather and his father, my great-grandfather .
t~: Your great-grandfather on that side got the Spanish land grant?
That's 18th century then, isn't it?
F: It goes back to 1832 .
M: You've got land on the river, then?
F: Yes . Now this is Calaveras . Further down south here at Floresville
on this side of the river is the Flores place. It goes--same thing, only
on the other side of the river .
M: Yndo over here and Flores here . Hh i ch one do you own now?
F: Well, both. My mother owns 161 acres over there--still of the old
ranch. And all my cousins--we're all involved and have different parcels .
M: Are they working ranches?
F: No . They have them leased out--there 's no one living there.
M: You're not raising cattle or . . . ?
F: I do . I fool with cattle because I'm right here . I have just a few
head of cattle out there . Just for the fun of it . r·1y daughter, the
youngest daughter, lives out there and sort of looks after the place . It's
easy for her to go into San Antonio or come in here . So she lives out
there . We just enjoy it .
Now over here on the Flores side, we have just 50 acres left .
~1: Sold them off ... Were they both Spa ni sh land grants on either side of
the ri ver?
F: Yes, on both sides .
M: There's an interesting thing that occurs to me talking about ranches
FLORES 12.
M: on water. Back in San Antonio on San Pedro Creek, when the city
fathers decided how much irrigation you were going to get for your piece
of land, they were just narrow strips; they went 'way back so that every­body
could hook into San Pedro Creek . The Flores family lived in there
somewhere . Because it said, " ... the residents on Flores Street."
F: I thi nk it's ri ght in that San Pedro area, on Flores Street .
M: That 's an interes t ing chapter to me, of San Antonio history, because
of the city fathers devi sing the irrigation plan so that everybody gets a
shot of water.
F: If you didn't have water, you were in bad shape .
M: Sure were . That' 5 one of the thi ngs . ..
F: Today it's very easy to drill a well and get ~Iater but in those days
you looked for natural water . It wasn't that easy to dig .
M: Water has been so important , I think that is the reason San Antonio
is where it is today . ..
F: The aquifer . That's why they're always arguing about it and fighting.
I think it's coming to the point where they're going to have to license
somebody to drill--whether you can drill a well or not.
M: There was one thing Gilbert Carvajal told me about that first store
down by the depot that your uncles had. Somebody had told him that it was
a great gathering place; it was sort of a social center.
F: It was . It was the store of the town at the time. And since they
handled everything--they handled even coffins . All the Flores were joke­sters,
so to speak, in a way . One of these older uncles told me this
story: One of the town people, very well known, liked to have his drinks
and he had his bottle . He'd come into the store--he was a good friend of
FLORES 13.
F: theirs--and he'd hide the bottle behind the shelf somewhere. During
the day he'd come in, take the bottle out, and take a swig. They got in
some coffins and one of the newer coffins had this sliding panel. They
showed it to him and he said, "We ll , this is a good place . " So he put his
bottle there--in this coffin . So one day business was slow and everybody
was gone except the emp loyees and this uncle. He saw this man coming and
knew what he was coming for, so he said, "Yol7all entertain him; give me a
few mi nutes . " So as I say, he was a practi ca 1 jokes ter . He runs over
there, opens that coffin, jumps in there and slides the thing shut . This
man starts to rea ch in and when he did--he slides the door open--his hand
struck--there was the body! He never came back! (Laughter)
M: He didn't? That scared him.
Your father joi ned them and then, ,after he 1 eft to buy the drugstore ,
did that me)'cantile store continue a while after that?
F: 'fes, for quite some time . It sort of broke up . The town was moving
gradually to where--I guess the courthouse was built here and the center
of town became where it is today. So he moved up here into town, ri ght
across the street from the courthouse, actual"iy. He had a place right
th ei' e .
M: Who' s I'he?"
F: J . N. Flores and Brother . That viaS '·lariano . Those two brothers
remai ned tO~l ether .
M: Was your father Ignacio, too?
F: Ig na cio .
M: So you 'I'E' kind of a ,1unior . ~i hy do they ca1 1 you Nash?
F: When my father fi rst started the drug business, he had an Anglo
FLORES 14.
F: man working with him and he couldn't call him Ignacio, or he found
it rather difficult, and out of Ignatius, Ignacio is Ignatius, and out of
Ignatius, got Nash . And it stuck with him as a nickname . When I came
along, I'm Nash . My son is Na sh III, so I'm Nash II.
M: Did you grow up here in Floresville? Do you remember what Flores­ville
was like when you were a little boy?
F: Well, we didn't have any paved streets for one thing . Just like this
picture shows you right here . You can 't really appreciate it unl ess you
know Floresville. Just to give you an idea--you saw where the courthouse
was . Thi s is a scene from the courthouse looking north . This building
was our original jail and it's there today. It' s one of the old jails .
M: I went up to the top of the old building this morning .
F: Did you see where they used to hang people?
M: Yes . She showed me the trap door .
F: That's the building that you saw, right there . And if you noticed,
we now have a big electric plant right here . The street--al1 this right
here--were dirt streets . And the street that we're on right now is right
in front of this house . This is 4th Stree t .
M: Quite a few houses, though . What's the date of this picture?
F: 1926 . And we haven't had a snow any bigger than this since then.
M: That old jail! Those little cells! And if it was full, you got
thrown in with someone else . One bathroom on each floor . Now, where is
this?
F: Now this i s looking south from the courthouse on 3rd Street out that
way .
M: Pretty sparsely settled there, isn 't it?
FLORES 15.
F: Yes, very sparse. There's a big building here now, Knights of
Columbus Hall, and there's homes here. Right here is. a boot shop today .
Here's a big automotive building here and laundromat, and on up--this
house is still there.
M: So it's grown some .
F: This house used to be called the Brinkoeter (?) home . All these
streets that you see here, like around the courthouse, used to have these
concrete pillars with pipe all the way around. Fencing around the court­house
.
M: Everything was dirt streets and it was muddy ... Did you have elec­tric
lights back in those days?
F: Yes . We had all the conveniences, really .
We lived right down the street here from this house ... just at the end
of this block. My mother lives in the middle of the next block.
M: So you're all kind of cozy . That's nice . One of the things that
interested me in that document you ' ve got in the drugstore--the newspaper
clipping--I had never heard this: Your family--there were two notable
Flores families in San Antonio--your side they called the Ignacio side;
you were called the Red Flores . I never heard that--because you were
blonde . Castilians .
F: All my father's family--all green-eyed, blue-eyed blondes . On my
father 's side, I guess, that's where they got that .
M: I never heard the term--called Red Flores .
F: I have a couple of my uncles--you know how you call people that are
red-headed, "Red." I guess that's where they got it .
M; Here it says, "They lived at Dolarosa and South Flores ... " The
FLORES
M: Igna cio family . That 's your grandpa.
F: Where's Dolorosa?
16 .
M: You know the Gove rnor's Palace . It's the street that runs on the
east side of that blo ck.
F: That would be about where the City Hall is . Right in there . Now
it's separated to where . . . 1 guess in those days you didn't have . .. well,
it was just the square blo ck, I guess .
M: Mi l itary Plaza.
F: NO .. . not South Flores. In those days you didn't have nice lined
streets straight ...
M: Where the cows came along ...
F: At one point Dolorosa and Flores must have met .
M: So that family, the Flores y Abrego--suppose that's the one that
came in with the Spanish soldiers? Officer?
F: Yes, because he was the alcalde, one of the . .. According to Bob
Thonhoff, he was either the first or among the first alcaldes in San
Antonio--it's got Francisco Flores de Abrego . I've got the book at the
store, I think ... Bob Thonhoff . The front cover or the back cover of his
book has a list of all these alcaldes . I went through there and I noticed
that Francisco Flores de Abrego was an alcalde- - not only once in the early
l700's .. . 17l6, something like that ... and then again , say ten, twelve years
later he was again . He was alcalde three times, I believe it was .
M: He must have done a good job .
F: Well, I guess they didn ' t have anybody else .
M: That happens too, today .
F: You know how those jobs are. Those good civic high-paying jobs . . .
FLORES 17.
F: (doesn't pay anything) ... are easy to come by.
M: You sometimes just have to beg people to take them--such an onerous
business .
F: Somebody has to do it .
M: Carvajal had an extra "a" in there and a "b" instead of the "v" in
the old documents .. . Carabajal . That's the same as the present Carvajals,
isn't it?
F: Yes .
M: "They have always had ranches here below the San Antoni 0 Ri ver; the
town is named for them; a street in San Antonio is named for them; they
had their residence on that street . " (Reading from document . )
Let 's get to the drugstore . Your father, at a very young age ,
started that drugstore . Here' s a thing right in front of me that says,
"In recognition of 75 years of continuous community service, I . D. Flores
Drug Company, Floresville, Texas , 1906 to 1981." You just recently had
that celebration .
F: Yes .
~1: As a customer of Southwest Drug Company .
I4hen your father started, did he sell just drugs or did he have other
things for sale to eke out a living?
F: Prescriptions and drugs . One of his big things were musical instru-ments
.
M: Really? In the drugs tore!
F: I don't know why.
M: Maybe there was a need for that .
F: Showing a picture .
FLORES 18.
M: There's the old Victrola.
F: The old RCA Victrola . You see right up in here, we had a balcony.
We had the stairway right in the middle of the store . We have a second
story that he built . This building that you see right here does not have
a second story when he fi rs t bought it. Now \ve have a second story .
M: He built onto that .
F: He built onto that and he had a doctor's office up there . But he
handled these musical instruments . And if you'll notice you see these
guitars and violins and banjos--hanging up there all around .
M: Looks like an accordion there .
F: I've got a picture downtown of Jimmy
ever hear of him? He was the first Elvis
r~: Afrai d I'm not up on that.
R~ers, the yodeler--did you
Pres/ley . (Laughter)
'-"
F: He was a Western . . . he was the first yodeler that came out Western
yodeling music. I remember when he came down here,we had some young men
working in the store and they were all excited. We had a big music depart-ment.
We handled records . We did a big business in that . A great part
of our business was musical instruments at that time . My Dad tells me
that during World War I, 1918, it almost broke him because he had a lot
of money out on musical instruments . He did a lot of mail order business
by mail . The war came along, everybody went to war, and they just can-celled
out the debt and left him holding the bag . So he lost quite a bit
of money in World War I because of that . He had quite a number of out-standing
accounts receivable--they were gone .
M: He never got them back, I bet .
F: He also tells me about the time--how business ran . He got a letter
FLORES 19.
F: one day and he opened it up and there were three $100 bills in it
from a fellow in San Angelo. (He put out a catalogue of musical instru­ments
. ) And this fellow wrote in--in the catalogue there wasn't a one of
these pianolas , they called it in those days, for a theatre . And this guy
wanted to buy a piano1a--and it was $1,300 ,00 . He didn't know how much
it was but he sent him $300 in the envelope and said, "I want a pianola . "
So my Dad set to work and located who was in the business of making piano­las
and had one bought without ever seeing it--shi pped it to the man for
$1,30.0 ,00 and never saw the thing--just had it shipped straight from the
factory to the man, The man paid him the rest of the $1,300.00.
M: He trusted the man to pay the rest of the money . Those days were some­thing
different .
F: Different from today . You go through a credit check and that sort of
thing . They took a man 's word then .
~1: Why do you suppose he went to musical instruments? In a drugstore!
That's the darndest combination.
F: That's true , But even through the years--he didn't playa musical
instrument--he couldn't carry a tune .
M: There must have been a good profit .
F: There was. Plus the fact that he merchandised it, apparently .
M: The cata1ogue . .. he must have .
F: And then in later years, here comes the radio with batteries . Now
that's when I came along; when I was young. We used to sell thos e small
table models with a big old battery about this long . We sold those; that
was a big part of our business . A substantial part of our business was
selling those radios.
FLORES 20.
M: I noti ce there is another drugs tore in town . Is there enough bus i nes.s.
in Floresville for two drugstores?
F: Yes .
M: Did your fath er , way back when he was beginning, when he was filling
prescriptions, did he ever mention any old wives' medicines?
END OF TAPE I, Side 1 - 45 minutes
T APE I, Side 2
F: We handle herbs today . We've got maybe over 250 different kinds of
herbs . The biggest sellers, the more popular ones--we have about fifty of
them downstairs and we have a warehouse in the back with some more herbs .
Drawers up there, with bags ...
I~: l~hat are they for?
F: Well, they are all home remedies . We have camomile flO\~ers which is
called manzanilla, good for upset stomach or what ha ve you . We have
peppermint herb which is called yerba buena; we have yerba anise, anise
herb; and we have the star anise . We carry canela, which is cinnamon .
M: You do? You carry the spices, too?
F: We don't carry it as a spice; we carry it as medicine .
M: Canela tea .
F: Yes, you make a tea . We have quite a number of those things . We
sell a lot of them .
M: Are your customers for the herbs mostly Mexican-Americans?
F: No . We've got Anglo, t·lexican-American, Polish, Bohemian, German ...
Oh, you mean for the herbs. Yes, for the herbs it's mostly Mexican­Americans
.
FLORES 21.
M: The reason I ask is I was in Pizzini 's in the market looking for
epazote; they were the only ones in town who had it . And they had great
containers of medicinal herbs .
F: What did you use epazote for?
M: Beans . You can't cook beans without epazote; didn ' t you know that?
F: No, I di dn ' t .
M: It ' s a weed, of course, and it smells horrible . But you're supposed
to put a sprig of epazote in your beans . When I was in Oaxaca last year I
learned you're supposed to put a leaf from an avocado tree in, too . So I
do that.
F: I'm learning something!
M: The old Navarro houses over on Santa Rosa have a swept backyard and
in that hard, packed ground was epazote growing allover . When the state
took the property over, they cleaned it all out .
F: I never heard of using it in beans, really .
M: Do you sell it?
F: Yes, we sell it .
M: What do they do with it?
F: Home remedy is all I know . They make a tea out of it. I'm going to
try it.
M: It grows very easily . They say once you get it started ... .
So you're selling herbs and you don't frown on this; as a pharmacist,
you don't disapprove .
F: Well, no, because for this reason--I don ' t think any of them are
going to hurt you for one thing but the main thing ;s people expect us
to. We've been doing it for 75 years . So if they expect us to handle
FLORES 22.
F: it, why, we 're going to.
M: And also, they expect it to do good; there's a lot of psychology
there .
F: Psychology, in my es timation, is one of the greatest things for
healing. I remember many years ago there was a young man who had been
rattles nake bit--see that house right over there, that white roof over
there? There used to be a hospital there. This kid, they brought him in
on a wagon--that was in the days of the wagon--I was about 12 , 13 yea rs
old, working at the store. They brought this kid in with the rattlesnake
bite . They put a tourniquet on and by the time they came in-- never loosened
the tourniquet--and gang rene set in . The doctor wanted to cut hi s hand off
here . It was a Mexican fami ly . The doctor told my Dad , "Would you go up
there? I've been talking to them . (He could speak a little bit of Spanish . )
I want you to go up there and explain to them why we have to do this .
They don ' t want me to cut off that hand . I can ' t blame them . But it's
got to be done because it 's gangrene . . . that's all there is to it ."
We came home for lunch . On our way to lunch we went by there with
the do ctor . I went into the room , too, and there was a terrific odor.
Dad gave a big talk to the mother and the father and they were just ada­mant;
no sir, that wasn't going to take place. Dad said, "Well, if you
don't, it's going to have to come up to here and once it gets up here in
the rest of the body there's nothing you can do . Right now you can stop
it." They said, "No," and that poor boy died .
So you know that that man--we have a bunch of cura nderos--you know
what curanderos are?
M: Sure .
FLORES 23.
F: In the area. Several years later, my Dad ran into this man or he
came into the store and they got to talking and something went back to
this case about his son. And this old man says, "You know, I still think
that Don Vi vi ana (that was the curandero) mus t have made a mi s take when he
made hi s prayers over my son and do ctored him . He just missed something
somewhere because my boy didn't get well." He still had faith even after
he 'd lost his son .
M: Do you still have them down here?
F: No, no, not as such. We had up to here a year or so ago, there was
one out here in the co untry. And a few of them sort of--they don't really
act as curanderos but people look to them because of age; they know some
old remedies . And maybe they ' ll name off manzanilla, camomile flowers,
things of that nature . But it's not a curandero as such that you go to
see . Now in San Antonio, you've got them yet .
~1 : A lot of people swear by them . Anglos, too .
F: A lot of people here go to San Antonio to see them . I guess that's
where we sell our herbs . They come back with a little list of two, three
herbs .
~1: Your father started when he was a very young man--20, 2l--with his own
store which is still the one you're running . He said he was going to have
$10 ,000 before he married . And he did it . Who did he marry?
F: Herminia Yndo .
M: Oh, this is the picture; the Yndo girl .
F: They went to a thirty-day honeymoon trip by boat from New Orleans. to
Nia~a Falls .
M: Pretty fancy for those days .
FLORES 24 .
F: Tremendous . I didn't do it myself. I couldn't afford it .
M: You spoke of being in the store when you were about 12 years old .
Did you start hanging around the store or working there fairly young?
F: I worked there when I was seven years old.
M: You did! That young .
F: My job used to be washing bottles . In those days--here's an old
bottle .
M: Look at that wonderful old bottle . Somebody 's dug that up . It's
got your name on it . 1. 0. Flores, Prescription Druggist . (Another)
that got your name on it, too?
F: Yes . Central Drug Store--you saw that sign-·-Central .
M: Did they have corks?
F: Yes, they had corks .
~1 : And they brought the bottles back and refilled them . I bet they
were expensive.
Has
F: Well, yes, and those days we didn ' t think about sterilization and
that sort of thing like you do now . You'd soak them in one tub of water,
wash them in the second one with soap, and then rinse them in the third
tub.
M: Probably pretty good. The soap would kill most of the germs you 'd
expect to find in a bottle .
F: We kept our prescriptions in a box--like these cigar boxes--and you
see "Flores Special ." We had cigars made for us with our name on it .
M: And those are some of your old pres.criptions . Are some of them funny
now when you look at them?
F: Here 's one that's kind of interesting . My grandfather 's pres cription
FLORES 25 .
F: Number One .
M: Your grandfather?
F: The one you saw pictures of--this one right here . This man here,
born in 1846 . That is from my grandfather--1906 , when he was 65--just
trying to figure out . . .
M: (Figuring)
F: He was 60 years old there .
M: I can read some of those prescriptions.
F: Reading some of the prescriptions: carbolic acid , salicylic acid,
yellow vaseline .. .
M: I 'm confused now. What was your grandfather doing with prescriptions?
F: He went to see the doctor . In other words, my father filled the
prescription for his father.
M: I see what you mean. This picture of the drugstore fascinates me .
Tile floor, looks like .
F: It's an old linoleum .
M: You've got four people in that picture behind the counter . Does that
mean employees in that drugstore?
F: He had eleven employees . He had a newspaper, too, back then . They
had eleven employees at that time because he had a weekly paper that he
printed and this catalogue of his merchandise . Apparently did lots of
business because he told me one time he had as many as eleven employees .
TAPE TURNED OFF WHILE F. ANSWERED THE PHONE.
M: You don't know if this is the oldest drugstore in the state, but it
is certainly the oldest store in Floresville . Is. there anything else
you ' d like for the record on this tape?
FLORES 26.
F: If you're talking about old stories, I'll tell you one that happened
about 30 years ago, or more . We used to get up quite a bit; in fact , I
set a record getting up six times in one night for emergency calls . Go
down at any hour . In fa ct, we have never sai d, "No . " A whi 1 e ago, when
,!\e. 'Ie.'~;S. JR I. D. FLORES (ti'.;S,i!® DRUG (0.
~~~~~~~ D EPENDABLE PRESCR IPTIO NS
FOUNDER: 1.0. FLORES 1886-1g6 1
PHONE 393-252.5 P. O. BOX 26
Floresville, Texas 78114
/~.r}fy
OVER 70 YEARS DEPENDABLE SERV ICE
EST. SEPT . 20, \906
RhU